GOP candidates talk abortion

(CNN) – In a presidential race thus far centered on the economy, nearly half of the 2012 GOP field took a break Friday to turn the election's spotlight on abortion.

Five candidates appeared–in person or via Skype–at the National Right to Life convention in Jacksonville, Fla., where they tapped into a social conservative base that's largely been sidelined since the tea party movement shifted the GOP's focus to fiscal issues.

All the candidates agreed life begins at conception and punctuated their point by citing the Declaration of Independence, which states all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."